Decided to drive them through the winter. They are worn down to the wear bars but surprised me with how well they performed in everything from DEEP heavy wet snow to light snow to ice conditions. These lasted only as long as the OEM Continentals (but the traction was SO much better at the end) so I blame the 4Matic system in the Mercedes for part of the wear issue. The MB dealer told me getting 20,000 out of a set of tires on an ML or GL that are commonly driven in town is about the most one can expect. Disappointing wear to be sure but it may not be the tires fault. The last time I had them rotated the tire shop said with the tread on this tire it is important to reverse them so that cupping doesn't occur. They said the excess noise was due to that. If it weren't for the obnoxious noise level I'd buy another set in a minute but I'm not sure I want to take the gamble.

Initial Review: 12,000 miles on tires

May 09, 2012

These tires started out great with wet and snow traction superior to the OEM Continentals they replaced but at about 7000 miles the noise level at city driving speeds became unbearable. They have been rotated twice now and at 12,000 are nearly worn out. Inflation is proper so that is not a contributing factor nor is unusually spirited driving. I'll run them until this winter and likely go back to the original Continentals.